ISO 160 1/500 f.95 50mm noctilux
Re-post December 2011
The one thing I really enjoy about my Leica M9 is the ability to shoot without a flash in low light. This is only possible because I can shoot at very low apertures (i.e. f/1.4 or f/2.0). The only down side with the Leica M9 is its poor high ISO if shooting in color.
This picture of my nephew was taken only with light from a few lanterns and street lights.
We were in Madison Wisconsin this weekend to meet my great-niece and celebrate my nephews high school graduation. My nephew lived with me and my parents off and on when he was little and I’ve always considered him a brother. He’s had to travel a lot throughout the past 5 years but was fortunate to settle down and spend his last few years in Madison. He made many friends and has really matured during this time. We are all very proud of him.
I’ve been busy traveling the past few days and will continue to be busy throughout the remaining month. Hopefully, I can at least post a new pic every other day.
Last week, I decided to sell my NEX-7 and move to the new Olympus OM-D. Both are great cameras but the NEX-7 just doesn’t have the amount of lenses on the market. Also, I really like the functionality of the OM-D.
Here is one of my first pictures taken with the Olympus OM-D with Panasonic’s 7-14mm lens. When shooting landscape with this lens there is very little distortion but when you have a subject within inches of the lens you can see that it gives it a unique perspective.
Here it is, the 1 year shot! I’ve already posted it on Steve Huff’s website (thanks Steve), you can see it here. I’ve had a great time taking these pictures and look forward to shooting more. I plan on taking one every 6 months now and hopefully I can continue for a very long time.
Our Future @ 12 months
Original: Our Future
Re-post from November 2011
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and black Friday. We decided to do our shopping online. No crowds, no stress, same prices.
As I was walking around the Lincoln Memorial with a friend I was trying to find someone interesting to take a picture of. Eventually, I found this couple enjoying a cup of coffee while resting on the steps of the memorial. They seemed unaware of everything around them besides each other.
Here’s a picture of my nephew. We were out taking senior pictures and came across this old church and cemetery. I made him get out and let me take a few pics.
ISO 160 1/750s f/2 28mm summicron
Every time I look at this pictures it reminds me of the Atari game Pitfall.
ISO 250 1/30 f/2 35mm summicron
Re-post November 2011
One of the great things owning a Leica M9 and 50mm summilux is the ability to shoot in the dark. For most, this is only possible with the use of a flash. Personally, I try to shoot without one as much as possible because I like natural lighting. Shooting at low apertures such as 1.4 allows for shooting in almost complete darkness (the leica noctilux is probably the only one that truly will allow you to do this). It is much more difficult to focus, prevent blur, and you have to shoot at high ISO’s. Fortunately, the M9 can perform this at 1000, 1500, and even 2500 ISO. Unfortunately, I typically don’t like color pics at this high of ISO therefore I always change them to black and white. The noise at these high ISO’s add to the quality of black and white.
A friend of mine, Hiro Shibuya (he was my chief resident when I was a first year) and I were recently in Washington D.C. for a conference and decided to spend some time sight seeing and taking pictures. We were at the Lincoln Memorial and he was trying to get that perfect picture and I caught him in the act. In this instance, him being out of focus works because of the sense of movement the viewer gets. This was probably one of my favorite pics.
You can view Hiro’s pictures here.
I really enjoy catching unique moments. I don’t shoot too many “posed” shots because they have less meaning (at least to me) and also to be honest you have to be very creative, especially if you want to shoot something different from others.
This was a shot I took last year of some friends of ours with their kids. I was trying to catch a unique perspective.
